What Could Have Been
by Konoha's Orange Fire Shadow
Summary: What could have been had the Yondaime managed to put his duty ahead of his feelings, choosing to spend his dying breath to warn the third hokage about the masked man with the Sharingan. An insignificant detail in the grand scheme of things ends up having far reaching consequences for Naruto, preparing him for the threats lurking in the shadows, both inside and outside Konoha.
1. Ch 1: Beginnings

**Author's note**: Hey everyone. After being a part of the fandom for several years and having read _nearly _all the quality fanfics present, I finally decided to try writing my own story. Hope you like it! Ja ne ;)

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**What Could Have Been**

**Chapter 1**

"Naruto… don't be a picky eater, eat lots and grow big and strong, just like your father. Make sure to bathe everyday and to stay warm during winters. Don't stay up late; a growing boy needs plenty of sleep." She smiled down at him, her eyes taking in every detail of his face, hoping to burn it into her memory.

"Try to make friends. You don't need to have lots, just a few that you can really trust is fine. Your mom was bad at this, but study hard and regularly practice your ninjutsu. Remember that everyone is good at something and not so good at others, so even if things don't go well… don't get depressed, okay? At the academy, respect your teachers and your seniors, but if anyone tries to bully you, you better be the one who comes out on top," she said mock-sternly.

"Oh, and regarding the three prohibitions for a shinobi, be careful while borrowing and lending money and always make sure to have enough savings from your mission pay. Drink in moderation, though I would much prefer if you didn't drink at all. The third and the most problematic, is girls… though being a girl myself I don't know much about it. At some point, you'll notice girls or boys in a special way, and that's normal… Just, be careful not to fall for the wrong person, find someone like me ya know!" she said with a small laugh.

"Naruto, you will face a lot of hardships in your life as you grow up. Take care of yourself, make sure to have dreams for the future and the confidence to make those dreams come true. So much, there's so so much that I want to tell you! I want to watch you grow up, to see you fall in love, to watch you realize your dreams. I want to be with you longer!" she had tears streaming down her face, but she was still smiling despite her pain, content to spend her last moments gazing at her son's face.

"Know that whatever happens, your parents will be proud of you and always remember that I love you."

Naruto woke up with a start, and dimly registered that he was crying as well. He took a deep breath and wiped his face with his sleeve.

Yugao-nee was lookin at him with a concerned expression, the worry clear on her face. "Was it the same dream?" she asked in a gentle tone.

He nodded back, not trusting himself to speak. He had been having the dreams for a week now and they showed no signs of stopping any time soon. They always started the same way, with the village in flames and bodies of dying shinobi everywhere and ended with his mother telling him that she loved him.

He still couldn't decide whether he wanted these dreams to stop or not.

He gratefully drank the water which she handed him and after reassuring her that he was fine and did not need her help to go to the bathroom, began to get ready for the day.

Yugao had been concerned when he had started having nightmares and insisted that he should go talk to the Hokage about them but while Naruto respected her a lot and generally listened to her he didn't want to bother Hokage-jiji with something like this.

She had finally relented and said that if the dreams didn't stop within a week then she would drag him to the Hokage tower herself if she had to. Naruto had known her since he was a child, she was like an elder sister to him and so he didn't doubt it for a moment that she would carry out the threat if required.

He glanced at the clock on the wall and after seeing that he was going to be late if he didn't hurry, quickly threw on his beloved orange jacket and headed outside with Yugao-nee following behind.

He had to meet with Hokage-jiji today to see the new house he would be living in from now on, his very own house, how cool was that!

The hokage had told him that his parents had left him a house for when he was old enough to look after himself and now that he was going to start training to become a super awesome shinobi just like his mom, It was time that he learned to live on his own.

He had said something about how it would teach him responsibility, important life skills, how to manage his finances and several other things but by then Naruto had already tuned him out and was practically jumping with joy.

Naruto had never really liked the orphanage very much, first of all, It was very crowded. The Kyuubi attack five years ago had left behind several orphans so they had to make do with what little space they had. But mostly because he felt incredibly lonely there despite a large number of people surrounding him.

Sure Neko-chan was really nice and visited him every day but nobody else seemed to like him at all! The matron didn't let him play with the other kids at the orphanage and all the adults in the village always avoided him and told their kids to stay away from him. Only his jiji willingly spent time with him.

Once when he was younger Naruto had asked jiji why everyone smiled and waved at him every time they went to Ichiraku's for ramen. He had smiled at him and said that it was because he was the Hokage, whose duty was to carry on the will of fire and to care for and protect the village with his life.

It would be several years before Naruto would realize that the old Hokage had subtly manipulated him to set him on the path to becoming a shinobi.

"Well then I'll become the greatest hokage ever and then everyone will acknowledge me, just you wait, I'll be stronger than you in no time at all," Naruto loudly proclaimed with all the confidence of a 3-year-old.

"I am sure you will," the Hokage chuckled, ruffling the boy's hair.

"But tell me Naruto, do you even know what it takes to be hokage?" seeing the boy's sheepish face, Hiruzen told him, "You see, a hokage is not only the strongest shinobi in the village but he also has to know how about many different things required to run the village effectively. If you truly want to become bokage, you need to become strong in both body and mind."

"There's an old saying which my sensei, the Nidaime Hokage used to tell me, 'If you do not possess Heaven, gain knowledge and be prepared. If you do not possess Earth, run through the field and seek strength. If you possess both, dangerous paths turn into safe ones' I have followed his advice diligently and so far it has not let me down," Hiruzen looked at Naruto who was eating up every word he spoke.

On seeing the awed look on his face Hiruzen knew that he had successfully convinced the boy to become a shinobi, as such he was fully prepared for what the boy said next.

"Please teach me how to be a ninja!" Naruto nearly begged, looking at him with wide pleading eyes.

"I am afraid I can't do that right now, being the hokage is a busy job Naruto-kun." he chuckled at the boy's dismayed face.

"No need to be so down, I'll send someone tomorrow who will begin to teach you and if you pass my test when you are older. I'll teach you myself," Hiruzen said with a smile.

"Yes!" Naruto fist pumped with joy. "I'll train really hard and pass your test in no time jiji, believe it." That night he went to sleep, dreaming of strong Jutsu and great battles.

The next morning he found himself being woken up by a beautiful woman with long violet hair who for some strange reason felt really familiar to him. As he shook the sleep from his eyes and looked closely, he let out a startled yelp and fell down from his bed. "Ne...Ne-ko chan, is that you?" He asked.

"Good morning Naruto. Yes it's me, though from now on you may call me Yugao," She was a bit amused by his reaction, ever since he was a baby she had been his caretaker as well as his guard and as such he had only known her as 'Neko-chan'. It must have come as a shock to the 3-year-old boy to see her without her mask.

"What happened to your mask Neko-ch… I mean Yugao-chan?" the blond asked her.

"The Hokage informed me yesterday that you were interested in learning to be a shinobi and so I requested to be your teacher. The Hokage agreed to my request and has relieved me from my position as your Anbu guard which means that I am no longer required to wear my mask around you and well I would like to be able to talk with you face to face," she explained to the small boy who was staring at her intently.

"You know, you are really pretty Yugao-nee," Naruto blurted out without thinking.

"Why thank you Naruto-kun," Yugao said before she registered what Naruto had called her. "W...Wait, what did you call me Naruto-kun?" Yugao asked slowly, not sure if she heard him correctly or had just imagined it.

Naruto realized that he had offended her and quickly tried to correct his mistake, "Ah, I am sorry, I must still be sleepy, I didn't mean to offend you—" Yugao cut him before he started rambling.

"I am not offended at all Naruto-kun, I am honored that you would consider me worthy of being like a sister to you and I would be proud to be a part of your family," Yugao said, making sure to put as much sincerity as she could in her words.

Suddenly she found small arms wrapping themselves in a hug tightly and Naruto mumbled something which she couldn't hear. "Could you please say that again," she asked him softly.

"I said that I heard some of the older boys saying that an older sister takes care of her younger brother and and that she teaches them things and stuff and so I… I thought that maybe you could be my Nii-chan as you always take care of me and teach me things." He let all of that in one quick breath and then glanced at her with tears in his eyes.

She tightened the hug and said, "Of course Naruto. That is what an elder sister is supposed to do and don't worry I will always be there for you no matter what happens, little brother." Naruto gave her a smile at that, not one of his usual fake ones. This, this was his real smile, the one he gave only when he was truly happy and she felt that if only he smiled like that more often then the villagers would probably change their minds about him.

As for Naruto, he was over the moon, he had a family now, he wasn't alone anymore!

"Ah, I am sorry for crying like that Yugao-nee, it's just that I'm really really happy. So what were you going to teach me nee-san, are you going to teach me super-cool jutsu or maybe how to use a sword like you do—"

I am going to teach you taijutsu first, Naruto," Naruto's face fell at that, he had been hoping to learn some cool Jutsu's but he didn't complain, he didn't want his new sister to be angry at him.

"So what do I need to do Yugao-nee?" Naruto asked.

"Well since we are just starting today why don't you just run 5 laps of the garden outside and then I'll show you some stretching exercises," Yugao suggested.

To her surprise Naruto was not even slightly winded by the end of his laps and then she remembered that he was an Uzumaki and had much higher stamina than normal, so she had him run a few more rounds before making him stretch.

"Now watch me closely, I'll demonstrate the different types of punches. kicks and blocks and after that, we will start practicing them one by one okay?"

Naruto nodded and then managed to keep up with her as she kept on correcting his stances, telling him how to maximize the strength behind his blows and how to move and strike efficiently and by the end of an hour Naruto despite his amazing stamina was tired, he was still only 3 years old after all.

After Naruto was well rested, Yugao began to teach him how to read and write, something which proved to be much tougher for Naruto simply couldn't keep still. In the end, she decided to give him building blocks to keep his hands busy while she taught him the Kanji.

This schedule went on for the next two years, every morning Yugao would wake him and have him exercise as his stamina increased, the number of laps and exercises he did gradually increased as well. Yugao taught him how to grapple, how to use a kunai and shuriken (though he was only allowed to use wooden ones) and most importantly taught Naruto how to read and properly.

She even taught him how to write in calligraphy, something which would help him greatly when he learned _Fuinjutsu_, the art which the Uzumaki's were known for and after hearing how his mother was the best seal master of Konoha, Naruto put all his efforts into practicing his calligraphy skills in his free time.

By the time he was five Naruto was quite eager to advance to the academy. Taijutsu wasn't something he struggled with, even if he knew that he was too small right now to be able to do any significant damage in a real fight at least he knew the proper technique behind it.

The problem was the boring theory which he had to learn, who cared when some old battle took place or who was the Daimyo's of the different nations, but Yugao-nee had told him that it was important for a shinobi to learn from the past and so Naruto tried his best to study as hard as he could. Even then he was confident in his abilities and felt that he could pass whatever test his jiji gave him.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even notice that he had arrived at his destination. The Uzumaki clan house was located near the western part of Konoha in between the Nara clan to its north and the Uchiha clan to its south. Naruto could hear the sound of the Naka river flowing behind his house.

The Uzumaki clan grounds were much smaller than most of the other clans which made sense seeing as there weren't many Uzumaki left but it didn't really matter to Naruto. He was just happy that he belonged to a clan, even if currently he was the only member of his clan.

The house itself was a traditional 2 story house with a wooden engawa veranda and a small garden surrounding it. Despite not being very fancy or huge it took Naruto's breath away, this was the place where his parents had lived, where he was going to live from now on.

He could easily imagine his mother tending to the garden singing softly. It was a bittersweet thought but Naruto could not help but think how much better it would have been to live in this house with his parents instead. He stopped that line of thought firmly, thinking of what-ifs would only serve to make him sadder.

Naruto ventured inside the garden where his jiji was talking with a Large white-haired man with a scroll tied to his back.

Despite having never seen the man before, for some reason he felt familiar to him. Both of them looked up to see him approaching and stopped their conversation to greet him.

"Hello, Naruto-kun. This is my pupil Jiraiya, one of the legendary Densetsu no Sannin," the Sandaime gestured to Jiraiya who was quickly running through a set of hand seals.

In a poof, Jiraiya was standing upon a giant toad that had appeared from nowhere and then proceeded to do some sort of strange dance. "Known to all as the legendary toad sage, charmer of women, Bane of my enemies, look upon me and be amazed," he finished his dance, grinning, and the toad disappeared in another poof.

Naruto's jaw dropped and for a moment Jiraiya thought that the boy didn't like his performance. But then Naruto grinned widely, "Wow that was so cool Oji-san, how did you make that toad appear just like that?

Jiraiya smiled at his godson. "That was a summoning jutsu kid. As the toad sage, I have a contract with them and so I can summon them when I need their help, maybe when you are older I'll teach you how to summon them too, would you like that?"

"Really you'll teach me how to summon toads," Naruto asked eagerly.

"Of course I will brat, you may not remember me right now but your parents named me your Godfather, it's my duty to teach you everything I know."

Naruto was stunned, never in his life had he imagined that he had a godfather and now suddenly this man appeared claiming to have known his parents. If Jiraiya was telling the truth then where the hell had he been his entire life.

Suddenly he was struck with a sinking feeling, had Jiraiya abandoned him because he, just like the villagers disliked him and didn't want to be seen with him?

Hiruzen must have seen the boy's expression and deduced what he was thinking for he quickly said, "Naruto, Jiraiya had a very good reason for not taking care of you when you were a child. He is Konoha's spymaster and as such had to stay from the village in wake of the Kyuubi's attack to protect the village in its moment of weakness."

Naruto looked to Jiraiya for confirmation, feeling a small flare of hope rising in him.

"It's true kid, I had to make sure that Konoha was well protected and that the other Nations did not try to attack us when we had just lost our Hokage, I am really sorry for not being there for you but believe me when I say that it wasn't because I don't want to be with you but because I had no other choice," Jiraiya said, hoping that Naruto would understand his situation.

"I… I guess it's alright." Naruto finally said. "You were just doing your job and I can understand that." Jiraiya sighed with relief upon hearing that.

"But don't think that I have forgiven you completely, you owe me a lot of Ramen old man!" despite his words Naruto was smiling now, he may not have forgiven his godfather completely but he was willing to give a chance.

Naruto wasn't one to hold grudges over past wrongs and besides Jiraiya seriously seemed sorry for leaving him alone and was ready to make it up to him so who was he to complain.

A very small part of his brain whispered that the only reason he forgave him so easily was that he was terrified of losing one of the few people who cared but Naruto shoved that thought far away for now.

"Heh, I can do that brat. You know, your mother was very fond of ramen as well." Jiraiya said with a fond smile.

"Really! I knew my mother was awesome, Ramen is the food of gods believe it!" Naruto was happy to know that he shared something with his mother even if it was something as insignificant as having the taste in food, it made him feel as if a part of her still lived with him.

As Naruto stepped inside the house with Jiraiya and Hiruzen close behind him, he couldn't suppress the pang of loss he felt at seeing the empty house. It was obvious that while the house was constructed with love and care and attention was paid to every detail it had never been lived in before.

There were 2 bedrooms, along with a hall, kitchen and a bathroom. All the rooms had sliding doors and were covered with the traditional tatami mat flooring. The master bedroom was attached to the veranda by a sliding door and Naruto decided that he will be making it his room. He was pleasantly surprised to find that the backdoor opened to a small enclosure meant for outdoor training something which he realized on seeing the wooden posts probably meant for taijutsu and shurikenjutsu practice.

The first floor was similarly furnished with a single bedroom, a bathroom and a storage room along with a study room (which Naruto planned on converting to a small Dojo). All in all, it was a very beautiful house if a bit small which suited Naruto just fine.

"So what do you think kid, you like it?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yeah, it's perfect," Naruto said with a soft smile. "I love it. When can I move in jiji?"

"I have already asked Yugao to pack all your things and move them here later today but before that, there is a very important matter we need to discuss," the Hokage said in a serious tone.

"What do you mean jiji, why can't I just move in now," Naruto said petulantly. He knew what the Hokage meant and didn't look forward to the coming conversation at all.

"Don't pretend you don't know what I mean Naruto. Yugao has already informed me about the dreams you have been having and I believe it will be best for you to consult an expert as it's obvious you haven't fully recovered from the incident last week," Hiruzen said in a kind but firm tone which left no room for any argument.

"Alright, alright I'll go see the person you want me too, where does he live?"

"That won't be necessary," A new voice said from behind him. Naruto turned around to see the newcomer. He was a well-built man with blond hair tied in a ponytail and wearing the standard Jonin flak jacket.

"Hello Naruto-kun, My name is Inoichi Yamanaka, I'll be talking with you today," Inoichi said with a pleasant smile. "Hokage-sama thought it would be easier for you to have the examination take place here and I agree with him, we can begin whenever you are ready," Inoichi asked.

"Wait a minute Inoichi, I think it would be better if put a seal on Naruto to make the process of your mind walk jutsu painless for him." the Hokage said, motioning for Jiraiya to come forward.

Inoichi, while initially confused, as he knew that his jutsu caused no pain to the subject, caught on quickly. The Hokage wanted to make sure the Kyuubi could not interfere during the process.

Jiraiya came forward and applied the seal he had prepared beforehand to completely cut off the flow of Kyuubi's chakra to Naruto. Naruto stumbled a bit, feeling the drain on his body due to his chakra being suddenly cut off but recovered quickly.

"Well then off you go Naruto. We will be waiting for you here when you are done and will be happy to answer any questions you may have after your talk with Inoichi," the Hokage said encouragingly. Naruto nodded uneasily and followed Inoichi inside the house.

Once they were inside the house, Hiruzen turned to his pupil who had taken a seat in the garden. As he started to speak Jiraiya raised his hand in a gesture for him to halt.

"This is not a place to discuss confidential information. It will be some time before Naruto is finished. let us take this to your office," with that both of them disappeared in a body flicker.

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**(Hokage office)**

"There have been rumors of an organization made up entirely of S-class missing-nin. They are calling themselves the Akatsuki and as of yet their motives are unknown." Jiraiya knew his sensei was not going to like what he said next. "It appears as if Orochimaru has joined them," the Sandaime Hokage seemed to age a decade more before his eyes on hearing about his traitorous pupil's actions.

"I'll assume you learned about the organization through your spies keeping tabs on Orochimaru," Hiruzen asked.

"Yes. It worries me that they were able to remain undetected for so long and that the only reason I even heard about their existence is because of Orochimaru," said Jiraiya with a frown.

"Do you think that the masked man Minato had mentioned could be a part of this organization?"

"It is too soon to say anything just yet. But seeing as that man was definitely S-class from what Minato told us, it is likely that he may have some connection with the Akatsuki. After all, it's not as if there are many S-class nuke-nins roaming around the elemental nations. I would have liked to leave immediately to gather more information but for now, taking care of Naruto is more important. As soon as I have spent some time with him I'll meet up with all my contacts and tell them to keep their ears open for any news on Akatsuki." Jiraiya said, gazing at the portrait of his former student.

"It would have been nice to have Minato back with us, then an old man like me wouldn't have to deal with all this shit," Hiruzen sighed.

"You already know my answer sensei, I won't take the hat from you. I am not Hokage material." Jiraiya said frowning at Hiruzen.

"I am old Jiraiya, and tired. Already I have made so many mistakes. I was unable to protect Naruto's secret from the village, the Uchiha clan feels that I have wronged them and relations between them are growing tenser and on top of that Danzo is becoming bolder with his actions, I fear that we cannot let him unchecked for long. Promise me this Jiraiya, if something were to happen to me in the near future then you will take the hat. Think of it as an old man's last request to you."

Jiraiya was speechless. He had always thought of his sensei as something akin to a God and rightly so, after all, he was not called the God of shinobi without reason. But it seemed that the years had taken its toll on his sensei. He had never seen him look so frail and weak before in his entire life.

"I can't promise to take the hat from you but I can promise you this: if something were to happen to you, I won't let Konoha fall. If the need arises I will drag Tsunade back myself and make her take the hat. So you don't need to worry about the village old man, just focus on spending your time with your family. I'll take care of the rest for now. Jiraiya assured his teacher.

"Thank you Jiraiya, you have lifted a huge burden from my shoulders. Thank you" Hiruzen said, looking at peace with himself.

The old man may not have been the best teacher to him in the past, but Jiraiya was man enough to admit that he felt inordinately pleased for making his teacher proud of him.

"We should leave now Jiraiya, it's nearing noon now and Naruto is probably done by now," said Hiruzen, getting up from his seat and donning his hat. Jiraiya also stood up and both of took off towards the Uzumaki clan house.

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**(with Naruto)**

"So Inoichi-san, what are we going to do now?" Naruto asked.

They were sitting inside his bedroom, Naruto was sitting on his bed while Inoichi took a chair to sit in front of him.

"I'll be using one of my clan's technique to view your memories and then we can talk about it if you want to. Tell me whenever you're ready," said Inoichi.

Naruto took a deep steadying breath.

"I'm ready, let's begin."

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**AN: the starting was inspired by the canon scene between Kushina and Naruto.**


	2. Ch 2: Revelations

**Chapter 2: Revelations**

Naruto was having the bestest day of his life.

Today was his fifth birthday and so far not even a single thing had gone wrong, something which was a novel experience for him, as his last two birthdays had been anything but happy.

Last year he had decided to go out to enjoy the festival celebrating the Kyubi's defeat but as soon as he stepped outside he had noticed that everyone kept giving him mean looks and whispered bad things about him, which confused him as they were usually happy to just ignore him.

Saddened, he had decided to go back to his room for the rest of the day, his Jiji had been busy with something when he went to the Hokage tower and even Yugao-nee had been unable to visit him, though she did leave him a birthday cake and a few books as gifts.

(What Naruto didn't know, was that the Hokage was busy punishing some drunk who had been planning to vandalize his room and had been caught by Yugao before he could do anything.)

But this year was different. He had woken up to find presents waiting for him by his bed! Yugao-nee had made her birthday cake for him which was something of a tradition between them and bought him some new clothes, Jiji had given him a book on the history of the shinobi world which Naruto found fascinating, best of all he had even received a totally awesome sleeping cap with a picture of a dog on it. But to his dismay, there was no name on the present wrapper, something which greatly confused the boy as he could think of no one else who would care enough to give him a present.

When he had asked Hokage-jiji if he knew anything about it, he had claimed that he had no idea as to the person's identity but Naruto could swear that he was trying to hide a smile.

Realizing that he would get no help from the Hokage, Naruto decided to keep an eye out for mysterious ninja's with dogs, because he was sure that this person must have been a ninja to be able to get into his room so secretly and then leave without a trace.

Then Jiji had taken him to lunch at Ichiraku's and there Teuchi-ojisan had treated him to ramen for free! He had even given him coupons for future use as a present from Ayame-nee and to Naruto, who adored ramen, it was probably the best gift he had received till now.

He had spent the remainder of the day at the Hokage tower with Jiji who had regaled him with stories of the great shinobi wars he had been a part of, he told him about the Shodaime Hokage, Hashirama Senju, who could create entire forests in seconds with his _Mokuton_ jutsu **(wood release)**, of the Nidaime who was one of the most brilliant jutsu inventor in history and on Naruto's request, of the Yondaime, who single-handedly took out a contingent of Iwa shinobi with the help of his Flying thunder god technique, ending the third great shinobi war and how he was infamous for giving his techniques ridiculously long and flashy names. On hearing some of the names of his personal techniques Naruto had doubled over from laughter.

"Jiji, what about you, which war did you fight in ?" Naruto asked after he finished laughing.

"I have the misfortune of having fought in all three of the great wars, Naruto-kun," Hiruzen said, blowing out a ring of smoke from his pipe.

Naruto was stunned, he tried to do the maths but quickly gave up, One thing he was sure of, his jiji had to be really really old!

But alas, all good things must come to an end and so as night began to fall, the Hokage rose from his seat to preside over the festivities about to begin shortly and later on give his speech to the village.

As the clock struck half-past seven the entire village came alive with the sounds of music playing in the streets, signifying the start of the festival held every year in honor of the Yondaime Hokage's sacrifice.

As Naruto wove through the crowds on his way back to the orphanage, it seemed to him as if the entire village had gathered together in the main square of the marketplace. There were several stalls set up selling everything, from delicious snacks like yakitori (skewered chicken on sticks), pork buns and dango to toys for kids as well as game stalls offering prizes to the winners.

While he would have loved to play the games on display, he felt that it was better to move out of here quickly before people took notice of his presence.

Suddenly the presence of the ANBU that had been following him since he left the Hokage tower disappeared from his senses.

Naruto had always been able to tell when he was being followed, one of the reasons he was able to get away after pulling his pranks despite being a lot slower than his chasers.

The best way he could explain it was as if someone had poured a bucket of water over him. If it was a person he liked, like Yugao-nee or Jiji then the water was soothing to him, if it was someone who he disliked, like that mean old lady at the orphanage then it would send chills down his spine.

What was scaring Naruto at the moment was that he couldn't feel a single thing coming from whoever was now following him, something which had never happened before. He was always, always able to feel at least something about the people around him.

Before Naruto could think more about what this meant, his vision turned dark and the last thing he remembered seeing was a blank face mask.

* * *

**(Underground Root base, Naka waterfall)**

Naruto slowly blinked his eyes open to find himself sitting in a chair in an unfamiliar room.

If he had to guess, then he was probably somewhere near the Naka river as he could hear the sound of water flowing nearby.

Of course, there was also the option that he wasn't in Konoha anymore but he refused to think about that for now.

He tried to take stock of his surroundings and was disappointed to find nothing that could help him, he was also surprised to find out that he wasn't tied up as he had expected but instead left free.

Just as he was about to get up to search for an escape route he sensed the presence of someone coming behind him and turned around to see an old man walking towards him with the help of a cane.

Naruto instantly knew that this man was not at all like his jiji, while his jiji was always smiling and radiated warmth, this man felt cold to him, not to mention that he looked really creepy, what with the bandages covering his eye and the weird x shaped scar on his chin. Naruto decided that he didn't like him.

"Do you know why you are here child?" the man asked him after observing him for a moment.

"No, I don't. And who the hell are you old man? If you don't let me go then I'll tell Hokage-jiji and then he will beat you up," Naruto shouted angrily.

"Sarutobi will do no such thing, after all, he's the one who sent you to me," at Naruto's surprised look he continued, " You didn't know," he said incredulously. On seeing the boy's face he got his answer.

"I didn't expect this from Sarutobi," the man muttered to himself.

Turning to Naruto he said, "tell me Naruto-kun, didn't you ever think why the Hokage, who is responsible for the entire village and is one of the busiest men in the village would spend so much time with a no-name orphan when he is completely fine with ignoring the hundreds of others staying in the orphanage?"

Seeing that Naruto wasn't going to respond any time soon, he continued, "That's because you are a special child Naruto-kun and the Hokage could see your potential, which is why he had his ANBU train you since you were a child and now that you are ready, he has sent you to me," he finished, waiting for the child's response.

"W…why would jiji send me to you huh, he promised me that he would teach me himself if I passed his test and I haven't even taken it yet!" Naruto was getting suspicious of the man if what he said was true then why did he need to kidnap him. But Naruto kept his mouth shut, wanting to hear more.

"As I said, the Hokage is a very busy man Naruto-kun. Did you know that I was one of his teammates," Naruto looked surprised at that. "As he couldn't train you personally he decided that the next best thing would be for me to train you to make you a shinobi worthy of Konoha," Danzo said.

"With me as your teacher, you will become the greatest strength of Konoha, A weapon to destroy its enemies. Tell me Naruto-kun what is a shinobi's greatest weakness? Danzo asked him.

"Um, not knowing many jutsus," Naruto guessed after a moment of thought.

"Wrong. A shinobi's greatest weakness is his ability to let his emotions control his actions. If one cannot let go of his emotions, he can never become a perfect shinobi. I will teach you how to kill your emotions and carry out your duty to the village whatever may be the cost, you must always remember that the mission comes first."

Naruto listened carefully, and in the way that only a five-year-old could, came to the conclusion that everything that the man uttered was complete bull.

There was just no way that his Jiji, who had explained the concept of the will of fire to Naruto several times, telling him that the entire village was like your family and even Naruto, an orphan, knew that you didn't abandon your family no matter what happened.

He opened his mouth with the intent of telling him just what he thought about that, but before he could the man said, "One of my shinobi will be coming to take a test to determine if you are ready to be a shinobi, prepare yourself." with that the shinobi of darkness turned and disappeared into the shadows,"

"Wait! What do you mean by the test and why didn't Jiji tell me anything?" Naruto shouted at the retreating man's back, but by then he had disappeared.

Naruto was starting to panic now, looking around the room for any signs of danger. He managed to spot the exit at the right corner just as he sensed one of those masked men from earlier.

Naruto ducked just in time to avoid the shuriken coming towards, even then one managed to nick his shoulder and he let out a cry of pain.

The man was upon him in an instant and unlike his practice spars with Yugao-nee, he wasn't holding back against him, Naruto blocked a kick with his left hand and returned with a kick of his own but it was pitifully slow compared to man's who stepped back to avoid it.

Naruto tried to get in close to take advantage of his short height with a flurry of punches aimed at the man's solar plexus but he easily blocked all of them with simple palm strikes. Naruto tried to sweep his legs from underneath him but the man jumped before bringing down his feet in an axe kick which Naruto avoided by a quick roll.

Naruto tried to get in close again but this time the man knocked him away with a powerful roundhouse kick.

The blond felt as if his head was going to burst and his eyes watered. That kick had hurt dammit! But he was tough and quickly scrambled back to his feet. He dodged another pair of shurikens before rolling over to the side.

Picking up the chair next to him, he threw it as hard as possible, hearing the satisfying crack of wood against his assailant as he dashed towards the exit he had spotted previously.

Naruto knew that his only hope was to get the hell out of here, he was utterly outclassed and trying to fight would get him killed.

Just as he thought that he made it safely, the man covered the distance between them with a body flicker and lashed out with a palm strike which connected solidly with Naruto's chest knocking the wind about of him.

As Naruto tried to regain his breath, the man approached him with his hands held in a strange position.

"You are weak, Uzumaki Naruto. I could have killed you several times by now if I chose to. Be glad that Danzo-sama only wanted me to test your skills," the man said, before aiming his hands in Naruto's direction to execute his _Mind manipulation technique!_

What happened in the next few seconds was a mystery to Naruto, one moment it felt as if he was falling asleep and his vision was fading and in the next instant his attacker let out a blood-curdling scream before falling to the ground.

Naruto didn't wait to check up on the fallen man, by now he was absolutely terrified and just wanted to get away from this place as soon as possible. He quickly got up and bolted for the hidden door without checking to see if someone was following him.

It took him a long time to navigate through the maze-like passageway but by moving in the direction of the sound of flowing water, Naruto was able to get back to the surface by passing through the Naka waterfall.

He almost wept with joy on sensing some of the normal ANBU, as they got closer to him Naruto sensed that all of them seemed really tense and worried for some reason? He didn't understand why so many ANBU would be searching for him of all people.

As the ANBU checked him for any sign of injuries, Naruto finally felt the adrenaline leave his body leaving him exhausted both physically as well as mentally from the day's events.

The last thought which the boy had before succumbing to sleep was that he must have been cursed on his birthday to have something bad happen to him on every birthday.

"Hokage-sama, we have located the subject near the Naka waterfall. The subject appears to be unharmed, your orders?" the ANBU said into his mouthpiece.

"Bring him to me immediately," the Hokage ordered.

* * *

Inoichi ended his Jutsu and took a moment to process all the information he had obtained from the child sitting in front of him.

He took a moment to laugh in his mind at the irony of Naruto's last thought, the boy didn't know how close to the truth he was when he was thinking that he was cursed on his birthday. When he felt the side effects of his technique fade away he turned his attention to Naruto.

"Well, from what I have seen I can clear a few things for you, first of all, the old man you met was Councilman Shimura Danzo, one of the advisors to the Hokage and yes, he was the Hokage's teammate once upon a time," Inoichi added before Naruto could ask.

"Did Jiji really sent me to him? I mean I know Jiji said that he didn't but what if he was lying and-and he didn't really want me around anymore and—"

"Calm down Naruto-kun. I am sure that Hokage-sama did no such thing, he is very fond of you, you know. Danzo was lying to you when he told you that," Inoichi said.

The boy visibly relaxed on hearing that, the last few days he had been dreading the thought that his Jiji didn't want him around anymore. To know that it wasn't true was a great relief to him.

"Then why the hell did Danzo teme kidnap me?" Naruto asked indignantly.

"I am afraid I can't answer that Naruto-kun, but I can tell you that what Danzo told you was wrong. Shinobi aren't meant to be emotionless weapons. Having control of your emotions and disregarding them entirely are two very different things Naruto-kun," Inoichi said.

"I don't exactly understand what you said, but basically I shouldn't listen to what he told me, right," Naruto said, scratching his head in a nervous gesture.

"That will work for now," Inoichi chuckled. "Now why don't you wait for a moment while I report to the Hokage and after that you can talk with him, Ok?"

Naruto nodded his head and begin to explore the house some more while waiting for his godfather and Jiji.

* * *

"Thank you for your time Inoichi-san, it appears that Danzo has grown overconfident as well as become a fool in his old age if he thought he could get away with something like this," said Hiruzen.

"If I may ask Hokage-sama. What are your plans regarding Danzo?" Inoichi said with barely suppressed grief, seeing Yamanaka Fu in Naruto's memory had brought back the regret he felt at not being able to save Fu from Danzo's clutches. He would do anything in his power to make sure that nothing like that will ever happen again to an innocent child.

"For now, I won't take any _direct_ action against him, though that does not mean I plan of letting him get away with this insult, Danzo will pay," the Hokage said resolutely.

After a beat of silence the Hokage continued in a completely different tone, "You know, me and Jiraiya are hosting a small house-warming party for Naruto-kun later today. I think Naruto would greatly appreciate it if you could take out some time to attend, It would mean a lot to him. Jiraiya will be sending out the invitations to several people soon."

Inoichi was a shrewd man and he had to admit that the Hokage was one cunning old man, recognizing the invitation for what it was, a chance to rally all the other clans against Danzo and so he didn't hesitate to accept it.

"Of course Hokage-sama. I would be honored to attend and I am sure Shikaku and Choza will like to be there as well, that is if they are invited," Inoichi asked politely.

"Oh I am sure both of them are invited as well," the Hokage said with a smile, "Now, I believe that we have kept Naruto-kun waiting long enough. I think it's about time Jiraiya and I had a long overdue chat with him," with that, both the Hokage and Jiraiya, with the latter having remained silent the entire time since listening to Inoichi's report all the while radiating a killer intent which frankly had been extremely difficult for Inoichi to ignore stood up to leave.

Inoichi took that as his cue to leave as well, "I'll see you tonight then Hokage-sama, Jiraiya-sama," and with a short bow left as well to prepare for tonight.

When Inoichi had left, only then did Jiraiya turn the full force of his considerable killing intent towards his Sensei, who seemed to have been expecting it and raised his hand in a placating gesture.

"Before you start yelling at me, let me tell you that I have already begun my plan to take care of Danzo, I have learned from my past mistake with Orochimaru, Jiraiya. Now for God's sake calm down and listen to me," Hiruzen said to his irate student.

"You promised me Sensei, you promised that you'll keep Naruto safe and happy. That was the only reason I agreed to leave him behind with you, while I risked my life to spy for this worthless village," Jiraiya spat with anger.

"I could forgive you for not giving him a normal childhood, after all, you can't exactly change the minds of ignorant fools, but this, this is crossing a line, if I was in your place I would have had that old warmonger hanged by now for attempting to harm a civilian child by now and it's probably the least of his crimes," Jiraiya was trembling with rage by the end of his rant.

"And that is the reason you could never become Hokage," Sarutobi told his student in a calm voice. "Yes, I failed to keep my promise to you and yes I am sorry for that but tell me Jiraiya, if I went ahead and have Danzo killed as you suggested, then what. Do you think that would solve the problem, No! All it would accomplish would be to weaken Konoha and at the same time will do nothing to improve Naruto's situation," Hiruzen said.

"Then what do you propose, letting Danzo think that he can get away with anything he wants? Why don't you just give him the hat then," Jiraiya replied snidely.

"Think Jiraiya think! Do you really think Danzo is stupid enough to attempt kidnapping Naruto while I live? It was a warning to me, to inform me that our Jinchuriki is not as safe as we have been thinking, a thinly veiled suggestion to begin his training, do you believe that a child without any proper training managed to escape an entire base full of shinobi by himself, conveniently locating the exit despite the seals which keep that base hidden from all senses including **sound**, all the while avoiding any sort of trap or running into a shinobi, do you?"

"I know all right, I know that, but it doesn't mean I have to like it, and you can't convince me to just let Danzo off the hook, that guy's been a major pain in the ass for too long now, if he really wanted to just give some advice he could have done so without the fanfare, God knows he's giving you plenty of advice on dealing with the Uchiha's. You are just lucky that the Kyubi protected Naruto from that Yamanaka's jutsu or else he would have been Danzo's puppet by now." Jiraiya had observed the growing resentment towards the Uchiha clan in the village and while it was true that they were partly responsible for it, their situation wasn't helped at all due to the rumors and staged performances set up by Danzo's agents.

"What gives you the impression that I'm going to spare him?" the Hokage smirked at his student's gobsmacked expression. "I have no intention of letting Danzo live for long, he has become disillusioned by the freedom I have granted him till now and it's about time I got rid of him before he turns out like Orochimaru. But unlike you, I have no wish to lose any information I can get a hand on along with a small but well-trained part of our Shinobi forces," said Hiruzen, watching the realization dawn on his student's face with an amused expression.

"You plan on gaining complete control over his ROOT as well as over his entire information network, I am guessing that's why you called me back, to weed out all the spies he has in Konoha and to gather all the information from his bases?" Jiraiya asked.

"Partly, while you will be doing everything you said, I can not ignore the grain of truth in Danzo's words. I am going to begin Naruto's training in a few days and as you probably guessed by now, he wishes to learn the art of sealing in honor of his mother. I have called you here so that you could bond with him during his training as well as to look into the Uchiha clan. I trust only you to be able to keep an eye on both Danzo as well the Uchiha's and once I feel that we have gained everything we can from Danzo, I'll end him myself. This time I won't be making any mistakes," the Hokage said, thinking about his past failure with Orochimaru.

"You are free to recruit whoever you want from the ANBU to help you with the job. You have at most a year to dig up every single thing you can find out before we take out Danzo and till then I want his every single step monitored." the Hokage ordered Jiraiya, who nodded his agreement.

"And where does Naruto come into all this?" while Jiraiya trusted the man with his life, he no longer trusted him with Naruto's.

"Nowhere, as I told you, we will be the ones taking care of everything. I just saw this entire situation as an opportunity to improve Naruto's reputation in the village as well give him some much-needed allies for the future by making Danzo the convenient scapegoat," Hiruzen said.

He may be regarded as one the more _soft _kage's in history but while it was true to an extent, Hiruzen had very carefully cultivated an image over the course of several years to make his enemies underestimate him, something which Danzo despite being aware of, seemed to have forgotten about.

After all the best deceptions were the ones with a grain of truth in it. Hatake Kakashi and Jiraiya being some prime examples, both of whom used their reputation as perverts to their advantage albeit in very different ways.

"I am still not convinced that Naruto should be involved at such a young age but it does seem that this would be the best option," Jiraiya grudgingly agreed.

"I am glad you agree. Now let us go inside, with the way you were shouting it won't surprise me if the entire village heard you. I am sure Naruto has plenty of questions for us," Hiruzen said as he opened the door.

Jiraiya blanched at that but still followed Hiruzen inside the house.

* * *

Naruto was bored. At first, he entertained himself with exploring his home and found out several things like the loose wooden plank of the floor in his bedroom hiding some ninja tools as well as several boxes inside the storage room which probably contained his parents possessions, he made a mental note to ask Jiji about those when he came back.

But there was only so much he could do before he grew tired of waiting and decided to head outside to see what was taking them so long.

As he descended the stairs he was shocked to hear someone shouting and as he got closer to the door he realized that it was his godfather shouting at his Jiji. Naruto was about to open the door when he heard what he was saying, _"You promised me Sensei, you promised that you'll keep Naruto safe and happy. That was the only reason I agreed to leave him behind, while I risked my life to spy for this worthless village," _Naruto quickly backed away from the door, his heart beating wildly and he was surprised to see that he was crying.

At that moment, Naruto forgave Jiraiya for everything the man had done, no one, not even his Jiji had ever grown so angry on his behalf before and it warmed the boy's heart to know that his godfather cared about him enough to shout at the Hokage of all people!

Naruto thought that maybe this was God's way of making up for giving him a crappy birthday and let out a small laugh at that.

Soon after that, the voices outside quieted down and he heard both of them come inside.

When he saw his godfather enter behind the Hokage, he was overcome with a sudden rush of affection towards the man and without thinking he wrapped his arms around him in a hug.

Jiraiya froze for a moment, before ruffling the boy's hair, "why the sudden love brat? Not that I'm complaining," Jiraiya said with a chuckle.

"Thank you," Naruto said softly, his voice muffled by Jiraiya's shirt.

After a moment Jiraiya released himself from Naruto's hold and smiled down at him, "No need to thank me kiddo, from now you don't need to worry about anything. I'll make sure of that," Naruto nodded gratefully, before turning to his Jiji.

"Jiji, why did Danzo-teme lie to me? In fact why the hell did he even kidnap me?" Naruto demanded.

Hiruzen sighed, "This is going to take a while Naruto-kun, why don't we sit down before I tell you a story." Hiruzen told the boy.

Once all of them were seated comfortably, Hiruzen began, "five years ago on the night of your birth, the village was attacked by the nine-tailed demon fox. What most people don't know is that it didn't just miraculously appear inside Konoha. There was more to it than meets the eye but before I go any further we must go back in time to the final battle between the first Hokage and Uchiha Madara," the Hokage blew out a ring of smoke as he watched his entranced audience.

"Uchiha Madara, in an act of vengeance, brought the Kyubi which he had tamed with the help of his Sharingan to destroy Konoha and Hashirama decided to meet him in battle alone. But the strength of the Kyubi on top of Madara proved too much for Hashirama, just when he thought that all hope was lost, his wife Uzumaki Mito arrived on the battlefield and single-handedly turned the tide of the battle in Hashirama's favor. Uzumaki Mito was the greatest seal master of that time and using her prodigious knowledge she sealed the mighty beast inside herself in a prison and became the first Jinchuriki in history. With the defeat of the Kyubi Hashirama was finally able to defeat Madara and Konoha was saved from destruction." the Hokage said.

"what does 'Jinchuriki' mean Jiji?" Asked Naruto as it was the first time he was hearing the word.

"It means, the power of human sacrifice," Jiraiya answered in a very quiet voice. "As a Jinchuriki has access to the near infinite chakra of the beast sealed inside them, making them incredibly powerful but that power comes with a price," Jiraiya stopped at that, now was not the time for this discussion.

"Uzumaki Mito bore the burden of being a Jinchuriki for the sake of the village and when she was on her deathbed, she decided to pass on the duty to her great-niece Uzumaki Kushina, as only an Uzumaki is strong enough to carry the burden of the Kyubi."

There was dead silence for a moment before it was predictably broken by Naruto, "What! My mom was a jinchuriki!" Naruto yelled.

"Yes, Naruto-kun I'm afraid so, though just like her predecessor she kept this is a secret from the village, on the night you were born a terrible tragedy occurred.

Someone figured out the secret of your mother's pregnancy and knowing that the seal holding back the Kyubi is the weakest at childbirth, attacked her and her guards moments after you were born, managing to extract the Kyubi from her, which had a severe effect on her health as a jinchuriki cannot survive without it's Biju." Hiruzen paused here allowing Naruto a moment while he himself mourned his wife's passing.

"But your mother was extremely strong and managed to survive the extraction against all odds and while the Yondaime held of both the masked attacker as well as the Kyubi your mother decided to help him by subduing the Kyubi with the help of her unique _chakra chains_ something about which I'll tell you later in detail," the Hokage took a sip of water before continuing.

"You need to understand Naruto that unlike humans the tailed beasts cannot truly be killed by conventional means, the only way to defeat them is to seal them inside a human. The Yondaime Hokage had no choice, if he didn't act now then the village would have been destroyed. So with your mother's permission, the Yondaime decided to make you the third Jinchuriki of the Kyubi and sadly both of them lost their lives during the process.

His last wish was for you to be regarded as a hero for protecting the village from the fox by being its jailor but I am ashamed to admit that I couldn't fulfill his wish.

The entire village was in mourning for the lives that had been lost and in their grief, they directed their anger to their only possible option which turned out to be you Naruto-kun."

Naruto was silent for a long time, trying to take in everything that he had been told, in the end, he had only two questions.

"So I am a jinchuriki like my mother, but unlike her everyone in the village knows about it and since the Kyubi killed lots of people and I remind them of this fact they don't like me," Naruto asked,

"In a nutshell, yes," said Jiraiya. "You are taking this awfully calmly Kiddo," he asked his godson, a bit worried by his lack of reaction.

"Oh no, I am really really angry at them right now. But I think I understand why they don't like me and now that I know the reason, I'll make sure to make them see that I'm not the Kyubi, I'll gain their acknowledgment by becoming the Hokage and protecting them with my life," Naruto proclaimed with resolve in his eyes.

At that moment Jiraiya swore he could see the spirit of both Minato and Kushina in their son.

"By the way Jiraiya-ojisan how did you know my mother?" asked Naruto with genuine curiosity.

"Of course I knew her, I was her student," Jiraiya replied offhandedly.

"Eh! Her student?" Naruto shouted, a bit confused by that.

"Don't act so surprised Kiddo, while I was no slouch when it came to seals, I was no master either. Your mother though, she was one of the best seal masters of Konoha and taught both me as well as the Yondaime a lot about _fuinjutsu_,"

"Mom taught the Yondaime!" Naruto said with awe.

"Damn right she did, Minato learned everything he knew about seals from Kushina."

"Is that the Yondaime's name, Minato? Naruto asked, thinking that it sounded really similar to his own.

"Yeah, his name was Namikaze Minato, one of my students," Jiraiya said with pride.

Naruto was stunned at that, he didn't know that his godfather was such a cool person, to have taught the Yondaime!

But before he could ask Jiraiya more questions about his family, Hokage-jiji interrupted him, "Naruto-kun, I think that's enough for today, now why don't you go out with Yugao-san to the market to buy everything you'll need for the house while I'll have someone set up the furniture," the Hokage said, handing some money for shopping.

"Ah! I had nearly forgotten about it," Jiraiya said while fumbling with his pockets.

He took out a toad-shaped wallet from one of them before handing it to Naruto.

"Now that you'll be living on your own, you should learn to manage your money kid, consider it a late birthday present from me," Jiraiya said, handing it over to Naruto who looked delighted to get another gift.

" thank you so much Oji-san," Naruto shouted happily. "I'll call you Gama-chan," he declared before heading out with Yugao who had been waiting for him.

Once he had left, Jiraiya said to his Sensei, "You should have let me tell him about Minato, the boy deserves to know about his father."

"All in good time Jiraiya, Naruto has had enough surprises for one day, I would like you to wait till he's a bit older but I can see that you won't listen."

Jiraiya nodded his head in to indicate that yes, he'll absolutely be telling Naruto as soon as he got the chance.

Hiruzen sighed heavily, "why don't you go and visit some of his favorite places around the village and at the same time send out the invitations, I'll arrange everything else for tonight while Yugao keeps him busy," the Hokage said to his student.

"I guess I will see you later Sensei," and with that Jiraiya disappeared in a body flicker.

* * *

**(sometime later, Hokage tower)**

Sarutobi Hiruzen was feeling the effect of all his years. He had just returned from his talk with Naruto and was still contemplating whether his decision to make Naruto aware of his burden had been the right choice. On one hand, Naruto was still very young and as much as he wanted to let the boy have a normal childhood, he knew it just wasn't possible.

Better to make the boy aware of it now and help him cope with it instead of letting him find out from a stranger who may try to twist the truth and damage the boy's psyche in the process.

As he watched the sunset from his seat, he could not help but think that he should be at home, spending time with his newly born grandson. Instead, here he was listening to another mission report from his ANBU, one which could possibly spell war for Konoha.

He puffed on his pipe before turning his attention to the ANBU before him, "Report Kakashi."

"Kumo is becoming more aggressive, after the Hyuuga incident, they have taken your decision to sacrifice Hizashi Hyuga as a sign of weakness and are testing the waters to see what they can get away with. I managed to infiltrate one of their camps on Konoha's side of the border and was able to interrogate the leader of the camp, it appears that they were ordered to look into the state of Konoha's defenses and if possible to obtain information about its Jinchuriki. Their bodies are sealed inside this scroll." said Kakashi, placing the scroll on the desk.

"It's not just Kumo, while my team and I were returning we were attacked by two Iwa kill squads, fortunately, we managed to kill them before they could get away and report to the Tsuchikage about how Konoha is crossing the border and give him an excuse for war," Kakashi finished, his body settling into a slouch.

"Well done Kakashi. I had hoped that Kumo would stay quiet for at least a few more years but it seems that was just wishful thinking on my part. The only silver lining I can see is that despite our failure to keep Naruto-kun's status a secret from the village Jiraiya is doing a good enough job of keeping the information out of enemy hands."

"If I may ask Hokage-sama, I have wondered for a long time as to how exactly did the information about Naruto become public, because as far as I am aware only you were present during the sealing and if we had a spy in our midst then there would have been several assassination attempts by now. The only possible way the villagers could have possibly known about his burden is if you or the ANBU guarding him had slipped up somehow." Kakashi managed to keep his tone just short of accusing, looking pointedly at the Hokage for some sort of explanation.

Oh well, he supposed it was too much to hope to keep it hidden from Kakashi for so long. Better to get it over with before he found out himself and did something stupid, like killing Danzo and plunging Konoha into a civil war it could not afford right now, as if the Uchiha were not a big enough problem. God, he was too old to deal with all crap.

"Kakashi I want you to remain calm and think rationally before you do something stupid, alright." seeing him relax slightly, Hiruzen continued. " while you were away on your mission Shimura Danzo attempted to abduct Naruto with the intent of inducting him into Root, hoping that the lapse in security during the rush of the festival would remove any trace leading back to him. I believe that he was also responsible for leaking Naruto's status in an attempt to make it easier to influence the boy, though I have no proof against him."

Seeing Kakashi about to interrupt, Hiruzen quickly continued. "Fortunately by some stroke of luck, Naruto managed to get away. While understandably distraught he was able to locate the ANBU searching for him quickly, who brought him back to me at once. I was able to calm him down and sent him back home to rest while I dealt with Danzo," Kakashi frowned on hearing the last part, he was hoping that the Hokage would have taken some decisive action regarding Danzo but he kept quiet.

"I had Inoichi examine Naruto and he verified that his memories were intact and not tampered with. It also seems that Danzo had decided not to inform Naruto of his status as a jinchuriki. Knowing him, he was probably waiting until he had gained enough of Naruto's loyalty before revealing it to him. I have assigned an ANBU squad to guard Naruto at all times. I have also decided to remove him from the orphanage as I fear that it is no longer a safe place for him," said Hiruzen.

"where do you plan on sending him Hokage-sama?"

"Now that he's old enough, he will be living in the home his parents had left him. I have already shown him the house today before his meeting with Inoichi and I am glad to say that Naruto seemed delighted at the prospect. By the way, your squad is invited to his housewarming party tonight so make sure you inform them to be there on time" Hiruzen finished, observing the man standing before him.

Kakashi remained silent for a long time, trying to bring his emotions under control, though the anger in his eyes betrayed him. Finally, he let out a sigh and murmured, "I have failed Minato Sensei." Hiruzen was shocked to see the man visibly holding back his tears. "I should have been there for Naruto if I wasn't such a coward none of this would have happened. I—"

"What happened wasn't your fault, no one could have expected Danzo to do something so risky and foolish, but I agree that it's about time you make your peace with the dead. Naruto needs you Kakashi, now more so than ever." Hiruzen finished, waiting patiently for his response.

Kakashi looked shaken, and for a moment Hiruzen thought he might flee through the window but then he steeled himself and said. "I may not have been there for Naruto in the past when he needed me, but I promise you Hokage-sama I will do everything in my power to keep him safe from now on." there was no hesitation in his voice when he spoke, he was determined to atone for his past mistakes

"Good, I am proud to see you accept your responsibilities Kakashi. I will allow your squad to guard Naruto whenever you are in the village." Kakashi nodded gratefully at that. It seemed that he still had a chance to get to know Naruto properly, not just the fleeting glances he had managed till now. The Sandaime adopted a serious expression and Kakashi paid close attention to what he said next.

"In light of recent events, I believe it will be foolish to delay Naruto's training any further, this entire business with Danzo has served as a painful reminder that while we may think of Naruto as only a small child, he is also Konoha's Jinchuriki, something which makes him a high profile target for the rest of his life and if what Minato warned me of 5 years ago is true, Danzo will be the least of his problems in the future. It will be a disservice to Minato's memory if we something were to happen to his son because we were too soft to make the right decisions whoever hard it may be for us." Hiruzen said, thinking of his predecessor's final request to him.

"While I agree with you Hokage-sama the fact remains that the villagers won't take kindly to Naruto getting an early admission to the academy, moreover I fear that the instructors at the academy may be biased and try to stunt his growth not to mention that it's important for his mental health to interact and make bonds with children his own age." Kakashi thought back to his own psyche profile, which in the politest way possible had called him a suicidal, antisocial raving lunatic. Albeit a highly skilled one.

Suffice it to say he wasn't exactly the picture of perfect mental health and would die before letting Naruto turn out like him.

"Don't worry Kakashi. I do not plan on sending him to the academy for the foreseeable future. It will be better for Naruto to keep a low profile for a few years, time will heal the villagers pain but I fear that Naruto may become a target for their hatred if I let him join the academy when their opinion of him is influenced by the Kyubi. No it's better for everyone if his admission is a bit delayed, it gives us time to better prepare him and improve his standing in the village and when the time comes for him to attend the academy I'll make sure to place him with children his own age," Hiruzen assured the copy-nin.

"According to Uzuki Yugao, his caretaker for the past 2 years, Naruto has already managed to learn rudimentary taijutsu and has an impressive stamina, though he shares his mother's distaste for academics," Kakashi chuckled softly at that, remembering Kushina-san's rants on the subject.

"She also made sure to make him learn to read and write properly and taught him everything a young child needs to know."

Kakashi looked relieved to hear that Naruto at least had someone who genuinely cared for his well being while at the same time felt ashamed by the the fact that the 'someone' wasn't him.

"You will be responsible for teaching him chakra control as well as ninjutsu when the time comes, as a jinchuriki on top of being an Uzumaki he has much higher chakra reserves than an average shinobi which means that he will have to start with the exercises for control much earlier than others. With his reserves he has the potential to be a ninjutsu powerhouse with the right training," Hiruzen said.

Kakashi inclined his head in agreement, already planning several exercises to teach the boy who was his little brother in all but blood.

"I will be teaching him all about being a shinobi as well as preparing him for academy myself, seeing as he has problems with the traditional lectures I'll try to make them as interesting as possible, after all, it can't possibly be harder than teaching Jiraiya," Hiruzen said with a laugh.

"Maito Gai will be in charge of his physical conditioning and will help him develop a taijutsu style suited to him, though I have some ideas as to what will be the best style for Naruto from observing him train. Jiraiya has already made it clear that if the boy shows even a little bit of interest in fuinjutsu, then he will be personally training him."

Secretly Hiruzen hoped that Naruto became interested in the sealing arts. It had been a long time since his student had stayed in the village for more than a few weeks and He believed that Naruto was the only one who could make his stubborn student stay and maybe take the damned hat from him, not to mention that there hadn't been a proper fuinjutsu master in the village since the death of Kushina.

"Understood Hokage-sama. If that's all I would like to go and inform my team regarding today's development and get something nice for Naruto. Any ideas as to what to get him?" Kakashi asked, hoping for some advice from the person who knew Naruto the best.

"Hmm, I have already sent Naruto-kun to buy most of the things he will require like crockery, utensils, grocery and such to distract him long enough to arrange everything for his surprise party tonight and the house is mostly furnished already. Ah well, you are smart Kakashi, I'm sure you will think of something," the Hokage said with a twinkle in his eyes.

_So that's what it feels like to be on the receiving end of it_, Kakashi thought to himself thinking of all the times he had pulled similar tricks on countless others. As he disappeared in a body flicker he made sure to leave plenty of leaves behind him, no one said that he wasn't petty.

_Serves him right, _Hiruzen thought with a wide smile, calling one of the ANBU to clear the leaves from his office.

* * *

**(present time, Hokage rock)**

Jiraiya had to admit, when he looked down upon the village from atop his old student's head, he felt the same desire to protect it which Minato must have felt that night but even then he knew that the hat just wasn't meant for him despite what his Sensei's thoughts on the matter.

While he may not agree with his Sensei most of the time, he sure was glad he took his advice to visit his godson's favorite places around the village to understand him better. The ramen wasn't half bad and the view up from here was certainly worth the climb.

He could see why Naruto came here often, it was a nice place to meditate and think on matters of high importance without being disturbed. Matters like whether it was the right decision to force the responsibilities and burdens of adults on a five-year-old boy's shoulder.

Being a spymaster, Jiraiya was well aware that shinobi politics was a dangerous and often times a bloody affair and from what he knew about Naruto, the boy would never be able to bring himself to carry out the more brutal tactics involved in it but despite that, there were benefits to Naruto gaining some political power.

Even the old war hawk would think twice about moving against a future clan head, though from what his Sensei had planned, Danzo won't be a problem for much longer.

Jiraiya wasn't blind as to what the old man was trying to do, he could see that his Sensei was grooming Naruto for the position of Hokage and honestly, he wasn't sure what he felt about that.

On one hand it was the boy's dream (though he suspected that his old teacher had some hand in it) but on the other hand, he was well aware that the road to becoming the Hokage wasn't going to be easy by a long shot for his godson.

He would make sure to help Naruto as much possible to achieve his dream, he would be a lousy godfather if he didn't even do that much.

With that in mind, Jiraiya stood up and began to head back into the village, making several shadow clones as he went.

His research would have to wait. After all, he had some invitations to make.


	3. Ch 3: Forging Alliances

**AN: so this chapter is mostly character introduction and some worldbuilding. it's shorter than I wanted but I'll hopefully cover the rest in the next chapter. enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 3:**

Itachi considered himself an ideal shinobi. He took pride in his ability to remain calm during tense situations and to think through every action rationally in a fight.

Ever since his induction into alpha platoon, inarguably the most elite ANBU squad of Konoha, Itachi had hoped to ease the rising tensions between the Uchiha's and the village by making a name for himself on the missions he would be taking with the rest of his squad, proving to everyone that the Uchiha's were a valuable part of the village.

But he had quickly find out that the alpha squad was nothing like he had imagined. They were all highly skilled and so far had the best track record in ANBU, having the distinction of completing the most number of missions without a single casualty, which was largely due to their captain; Kakashi of the Sharingan.

Itachi had come to respect the man greatly in his time under him, he knew that Kakashi was not well liked by his clan for possessing the sharingan despite the fact that Obito had willingly gifted his eye to his teammate.

He knew the rumors regarding his captain, had heard the whispers of _"friend-killer Kakashi" _and of Sakumo Hatake's infamy but he knew that there was no one else in Konoha who valued his comrades life more than his captain, he had seen it firsthand when Kakashi had intercepted a blow meant for Genma on a mission with his own body and despite what anyone else may say, he trusted the man with his life.

Contrary to the cold emotionless soldiers the ANBU was known for, the members of alpha squad were some of the most easy going shinobi Itachi had met, with the exception of Tenzo, who still had trouble interacting with others outside of missions.

Kakashi had taken him aside on his first day at the job and explained to him about Tenzo's past with Orochimaru and how Danzo had taken away his ability to feel emotions when he was a part of ROOT.

For the first time in his life, Itachi was furious with the hokage on hearing that he had allowed Danzo to get away with what he did, but he also understood that after the Kyubi attack the hokage needed as many shinobi as he could get and that despite Danzo's methods, the ROOT agents were very well trained and made up for the loss the ANBU had suffered during the attack.

His other teammates, Genma and Raidou were a pair of skilled close range fighters while he and Tenzo were the support, with Kakashi completing the squad as their long range specialist.

"Captain, on your four, eight of'em incoming," Tenzo blurted out without breaking pace.

"Hmm, it appears that Iwa's got wind of our actions. Team, prepare for battle," Kakashi was aware that his team couldn't outrun the enemy, they were tired from the mission while their pursuers were not. His only option was to end the fight quickly.

Kakashi unsheathed his tanto, the blade glowing white as he channeled lightning chakra into it.

"Itachi, support Genma and Raidou. Tenzo, with me," Kakashi ordered.

Itachi threw his shuriken with unerring aim just as the enemy broke through the foliage, "Shuriken kage bunshin!" the single shuriken multiplied into twenty, the hail of shuriken caught one of the Iwa-nin by surprise and he crumpled to the forest floor.

In a blink of an eye, two Iwa shinobi were upon him, while the third ran through a series of hand seals, "Earth style: Earth Flow Spears!" As the spears erupted from below him, Itachi vanished in a swarm of crows.

Genma and Raidou took that opportunity to get in close and engaged the two Iwa shinobi.

Genma stabbed his opponent through the heart, watching the body collapse dispassionately and quickly kawrimi'd to avoid the earth dragon coming towards him.

Raidou was exchanging blows against the remaining one, katana against kunai when the Iwa-nin suddenly slashed to the left completely missing him, giving Raidou the opening to strike him down. His victory was temporary however, as the body crumbled to mud.

The chunin must have kawarimi'd with it at the last moment. Raidou body flickered out of their just as the explosive tag on the mud clone detonated.

The entire altercation took less than 5 seconds.

"Genjutsu?" Raidou asked from his perch on the branch, referring to the chunin's miss.

Itachi nodded in affirmation before disappearing in a body flicker to assist Genma. Raidou followed him, seeing his opponent ganging up on Genma with the remaining Iwa-nin.

Genma had managed to hold both of them off but it was clear that he was losing, the sudden appearance of the jonin who had been fighting Raidou had taken him off guard and he had gotten a slash across his side for his lapse in concentration.

Sensing Itachi behind him, Gema kawirimi'd next to Raidou just as Itachi unleashed his jutsu.

"Fire style: Great fireball!" both the shinobi scattered to avoid the raging inferno coming towards them.

"You alright?" Raidou asked his partner. "Ya, it's just a flesh wound." Genma said. "Itachi, you take the one on the right, we'll handle the other."

Their opponent was obviously a Jonin made apparent by the fact that he had been able to fight off Raidou while under Itachi's Genjutsu. He was built heavily and seemed to favour using earth style ninjutsu. Genma recognized his as Hasegawa, an A-ranked Iwa jonin.

Both of them disappeared in a blindingly fast body flicker towards their target who seeing them approach launched kunai laden with explosive tags in an attempt to slow them down.

"Shit," Genma cursed as he changed direction to avoid the explosion. As soon as his feet touched the ground the jonin was upon him. Genma ducked under a slash from his kunai and tried to sweep the man's feet from under him. The man jumped to avoid the strike and was immediately set upon mid air by Raidou.

The jonin ducked under Raidou's strike before lashing out with a kick to his side. Raidou blocked the kick and managed to work in a few punches to the man's gut before being thrown off by him.

The jonin recovered quickly, and assessed the two before him. With a single hand seal he summoned a mud clone and disappeared underground.

Genma only had a moment's warning before the jonin burst from the ground beneath him, his kunai poised to take off Genma's head. Genma cursed before raising his own arm to block off the strike with a kunai off his own.

Genma backflipped to create some space between himself and the jonin and saw that Raidou was busy with the mud clone the man had summoned while Itachi had maneuvered his opponent right where he wanted.

Itachi palmed four shuriken in each hand and let them fly in an arc towards the Iwa-nin who ducked to avoid the projectiles not noticing the thin wires hidden by a genjutsu attached to the shuriken. Before he could realise his mistake, Itachi yanked at the wires powerfully, binding the chunin to a tree with the help of his shuriken embedded in the trunk.

"Fire style: dragon flame jutsu!" the fire raced through the wires, completely incinerating the chunin who was unable to do anything to prevent his demise.

Itachi turned to see Genma flash some signs in the ANBU code and immediately went to flank the enemy as Genma let loose poisoned senbon at the last Iwa shinobi left alive.

The jonin easily dodged the senbon but was unprepared for Raidou to appear suddenly behind him. He struck back with a kunai, only for Raidou to vanish in smoke. _"Kage-bunshin,"_ he realized quickly, glancing at the real Raidou to his left and seeing that he was outnumbered three to one, knew that there was no way he could win.

He dropped a smoke bomb at the ground and dashed towards the only opening he saw hoping to make a quick escape.

The last thing he was aware of before he dropped dead was a single red eye swirling with three tomoe and the chirping of a thousand birds.

Kakashi pulled his headband down to cover his eye before surveying all the members of his squad with a sharp assessing gaze.

"Everyone alright?" Kakashi asked with a lazy drawl, as if he hadn't came out of a battle with four jonin level ninja a moment ago.

"Genma here needs to get his wound stitched, otherwise we are fine," Raidou replied.

"Good. we'll be covering the rest of the way back as quick as we can, no point in getting ambushed again. You can rest for a while once we are in safe territory," Kakashi said before setting out with his team following close behind.

Once they reached Konoha, he turned to his subordinates. Itachi looked completely worn out but still managed to stand upright. Seeing his sorry state Kakashi decided to take pity on him, "You three go on ahead to the hospital and then head back home, I'll report to Hokage-sama for the debriefing," Kakashi ordered his team.

Itachi let out an inaudible sigh of relief on hearing that and after a quick goodbye to his teammates, disappeared in the direction of the Uchiha compound with a body flicker.

As the rest of his team slowly left to their respective destinations, Kakashi decided to visit the memorial stone before heading to the tower to give his report.

* * *

**(3 hours later)**

Kakashi was baffled. He had absolutely no idea what to get Naruto. The last time he had been to a social gathering had been to Kushina's baby shower. He vaguely remembered getting a set of wooden shuriken for the same boy who was now grown up and apparently was going to be living on his own from now.

He had been serious when he told the hokage that he was going to be there for Naruto from now on. This whole mess with Danzo had shaken him more than he cared to admit. The mere thought of something happening to Naruto was enough to chill his bones, he could not, would not lose his sensei's only remaining legacy not like _Obito, Rin, Kushina, Sensei gone, gone, gone and suddenly instead of Rin it's Naruto with Kakashi's hand through his chest and he's dead and no, no, no nononono—_

He snapped out of it and was surprised to find himself kneeling by the memorial stone.

Huh, when did that happen. Somewhere in the back of his mind a tiny voice that sounds suspiciously like Obito tells him that he just had a panic attack and that he should _go and get some help you fool_—

Kakashi shoves the voice deep down his mind and takes a deep breath before rising to his feet. He ponders giving Naruto a set of 'Icha Icha: the complete edition' as a gift but then thinks that Kushina would have probably killed him if he did.

Thinking back on it, his choice of a present was probably not the best thing to give at a baby shower. Ah well, he would just go and bother Iruka till he helped him. Iruka was good at such things.

With that taken care of, Kakashi set out to inform the rest of his squad about tonight's plan.

* * *

Itachi was surprised to find his captain inside the Uchiha compound. As far as he knew, Kakashi had never stepped foot inside the compound since his teammate's funeral. Nevertheless he quickly ushered his captain inside his room before his parents could see him. He had a feeling his father wouldn't be a proper host to this particular guest.

"What brought you here captain?" he asked, making an effort to keep his voice neutral.

"Well you see my cute little kohai, the hokage has given us a new mission." Kakashi said with a smile that did not bode well for Itachi. "You see, Uzumaki Naruto was apparently visited by one of Tenzo's old friend to play with him and the hokage felt like he was bad news, so we have been assigned to be Naruto's new friend from now on." Itachi was not a called a genius for nothing. He easily read between the lines and deduced that they were to be Naruto's guard to protect him from Danzo.

"Also as Naruto's moving in to his new house tonight, the hokage is holding a small surprise housewarming party for him and naturally he felt that it would be terribly rude not to extend an invitation to the boy's godmother as well as her family. So here I am," Kakashi finished with a wave of his hands.

Now that took Itachi by surprise, he wasn't aware that his mother was Naruto's godmother though that explained some of the arguments he had overheard between his parents late at night.

Itachi was smart enough to know that one of the reasons the Uchiha clan was held under suspicion was because of the Kyubi attack and so seeing them interact with the jinchuriki would only bring more suspicion towards them. He was also aware that Naruto was obviously the Yondaime's son.

The fact that Kakashi checked on the boy after every mission and the glaring similarity between Naruto and the Yondaime it was not a huge leap of logic to deduce his identity.

"I see…" Itachi said after a moment. "I'll make sure to inform my parents regarding the invitation, though I expect a more formal one would be coming soon?"

"Oh yes, Jiraiya-sama will be dropping by soon. I just came here to warn you in advance. See you later Itachi," Kakashi said before leaving through the window.

Itachi sighed once the man had left. It seemed like tonight was going to be very interesting.

* * *

**(with Naruto)**

Naruto had been wandering the marketplace with Yugao-nee for well over an hour now. He didn't even knew that there were so many things required for a house!

They had first gone to a furniture store where Yugao had him select a _kotatsu _for his house and after some debate they had bought a nice medium sized one. She also had him buy a couch and a small wooden table for the hall.

His house already had a dining table and a furnished study room so they skipped on that and after paying for their items left the shop.

Naruto had been astounded when Yugao had taken out scrolls and sealed everything they had bought inside it. Even the _kotatsu, _Which was huge!

She explained to him that the scrolls she used were a special type of sealing scroll which were made to store a large amount of volume, something which required a lot of chakra compared to sealing smaller things.

Naruto had been fascinated by it and had been studying it non stop since then trying to figure out the lines and wiggles drawn on one of the scroll given to him.

After that they purchased all types of utensils and crockery which were promptly sealed as well. This time Naruto was paying attention and watched as the spiral matrix glowed faintly as Yugao applied chakra to it before the objects vanished.

When they reached a shop selling _futon's _Naruto requested Yugao to buy several of them instead of just one. Yugao had looked at him strangely for a moment before agreeing to his request.

Naruto would never tell her that he had purchased them because he hoped that one day he will have friends and family to stay over the night in his home.

He selected a bright orange one for himself and then came the curtains, at which Yugao put her foot down, "No Naruto, just because you like orange does not mean that you are going to your house filled with it," Naruto just pouted and settled for a pair of turquoise ones.

Once she was satisfied they had everything needed, they simply wandered the marketplace for a while. Naruto was always astounded by the sheer size of it. It was a well known fact that Konoha has the highest population out of all the five main hidden villages which was mainly due to the large number of civilians who had made Konoha their home.

Their were several reasons for civilians prefering to settle in konoha ranging from the mild climate to the stable relations the village enjoyed with its Daimyo as a result of which trade flourished between the village and the capital. Add to that the fact that Konoha was known as the most peaceful villages out of the great five it was a given that merchants chose to settle here.

All of this was reflected by the size of the marketplace. It was easily one of the largest part of the village and still there were demands made by the merchant guild for more space to the hokage from time to time.

There were all kinds of shops present, ranging from grocery shops selling fresh produce to weapons shop selling shinobi equipment present side by side in an attempt to allow the civilians to interact with their protectors.

As they sat in the fire park situated in the marketplace, watching as the sun bathed the entire village in golden light. Naruto felt truly happy for once. It seemed as if his life was finally starting to look up, he had a godfather now and despite the events that led to their meeting, Naruto was content with the knowledge that Jiraiya cared for his well-being something which only a few people had done so in his life.

His stomach chose that particular moment to growl with hunger and Naruto turned to Yugao with a hopeful look on his face.

"Sorry Naruto, but we can't go to Ichiraku for dinner," Yugao said with a fond smile as the blond's face fell.

"Why not?" Naruto whined.

"Because we are going to eat dinner in your house today as a celebration," Yugao told him.

She presented the blond with a carefully wrapped package which the boy accepted eagerly.

Naruto despite what his reputation may suggest, treated presents from his loved ones with utmost care. He delicately unwrapped the gift to reveal a beautiful looking Kimono, it was light blue in color with intricate orange designs on it. Naruto looked up to Yugao with wide eyes, it was clear to even him that it was a very expensive piece of fabric.

"Consider it a housewarming gift from me." Yugao told him kindly. "You may not realize it but you are a future clan head you know, you should know how to dress like one," she said.

"Thank you Yugao-nee!" the blond said, giving her a hug to express his gratitude.

Yugao gently ruffled his hair, "you're welcome Otōto," she said softly. "Now let's get you changed, I'll teach you how to wear it," Naruto nodded his head and followed after Yugao to a changing room in a nearby shop.

Once he was decked out in his brand new kimono, something which took a lot of time seeing as he just couldn't sit still while Yugao wrapped him up in it, they set off towards the Uzumaki clan grounds.

Naruto was shocked to see that the entire ground along with his house was decorated with paper lanterns and small lights dangling from the trees. Tables and chairs had been set up inside the garden and there was a huge table in the center covered with all types of food.

He was even more surprised on seeing his jiji and Jiraiya-ojisan with several other people standing in his garden talking with each other, he recognized Inochi-san standing with two other men who he hadn't seen before.

Seeing him approach, all the conversations suddenly stopped and Naruto found himself subjected to the collective gaze of everyone present there.

Just as he was beginning to panic Jiraiya stepped forward and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Calm down kid, everyone present here is a clan head and mean you no harm. I invited them on your behalf so that they could meet you," jiraiya told him soothingly.

"But… but I know nothing about clans and stuff, why do I need to meet all of them," Naruto hissed.

"Because you are going to be a clan head sooner than you think brat. And seeing as Kushina isn't around, it's my responsibility to train you as your godfather in your responsibilities. Now go out their and be a good host, let it be your first lesson in politics." Jiraiya gently pushed the boy forward. "Just be yourself, everything will be fine," he reassured him once again.

Naruto took a shaky step forward before deciding to greet the only one he was familiar with, "Hello Inoichi-san, I didn't expect to see you so soon," Naruto said lightly.

"Hello to you as well Naruto-san." Inoichi said with a smile. "Let me introduce you to my friends." Inoichi gestured to his teammates standing beside him. "This is Nara Shikaku," the said man gave a lazy wave. "And this is Akimichi choza," choza shook hands with Naruto.

"It's nice to meet you Shikaku-san, Choza-san," Naruto returned politely.

Naruto knew little about the Nara's and the Akimichi except for the fact that the Nara's were notoriously lazy and that Akimichi's were rather fond of food.

Before the silence could get awkward Naruto blurted out, "Ya know I had no idea Jiji was planning something like this,"

"Ah, the hokage meant it to be a surprise for you." Inoichi replied. "He thought it would be nice to organize a small housewarming party for you,"

Naruto smiled at the thought of Jiji taking out time from his busy schedule to organize all this for him and felt a wave of affection rise up for the man.

"Well then Naruto-san, we'll leave you to meet with the others. You are welcome to visit the Nara compound whenever you like," Shikaku told him.

Shikaku was one of the people in the know regarding Naruto's heritage, the hokage had seen no point in hiding the information from him knowing that he would probably figure it out on his own. Shikaku had been a friend of Minato's and had complete trust in the man's sealing ability.

He had seen the kid around the village a few times before and he seemed like a good enough kid to him. He had no problem lending his friendship to the boy, it was the least he could do for his old friend.

"The same goes for the Akimichi, you are welcome to visit us and our restaurants whenever you like, I'll even give you a discount at my restaurant," Choza said with a smile.

"Really! Thank you Oji-san," Naruto cried out, he was well aware of the Akimichi's reputation as fabulous cooks. A moment later he realized his slip of decorum but Choza didn't seem to mind.

"You'll fit right in with the rest of Naruto," the elder Akimichi guffawed before giving the boy a pat on the back and moving to engage Jiraiya in conversation.

Next he was introduced to Tsume, the Inuzuka clan head along with her familiar Kumomaru, Naruto was shocked when he found out that the Dog could talk but he got over it quickly.

He liked Tsume. She was a bit like him in the sense that she too wasn't fond of formality like him.

The Aburame clan head Shibi had honestly creeped him out a bit, he hadn't even sensed the man! But Naruto was never one to judge someone by his appearance and was soon deep in conversation with the man about the abilities of his bugs.

Shibi was a bit startled by the honest enthusiasm the boy was showing regarding his clan's lifestyle. He had not met many shinobi who were creeped out by their insects but met very few who remained unaffected by it.

As he chatted with the little boy about the different kinds of bugs they kept, he remembered another Uzumaki he had once known with a personality as bright as her fiery hair who had also been unaffected by his clan's uniqueness.

He made a mental note to ask his son to make friends with the Uzumaki when they met at the academy, it was hard for them to make friends outside their clan who would accept them for who they were.

"It was a pleasure talking to you Uzumaki-san. If you have any other questions regarding our lifestyle, You are welcome to visit my home. I would be pleased to answer them," Shibi said sincerely.

"I would love to know more about them, Shibi-san," Naruto said enthusiastically before he moved around looking for anyone left he didn't meet.

Uchiha Mikoto was nervous, whatever excuses she may come up with to convince herself that she had no other choice, the simple truth was that she had failed her duties as Godmother. She wouldn't fault Naruto for hating her and had come prepared to accept that possible outcome. Kushina would never forgive her if she didn't even try to correct her mistakes.

So she gathered her courage and approached the boy from behind, "Hello Naruto-kun," the boy turned without showing any sign of surprise. He had already sensed the waves of nervousness radiating from her along with what felt like regret?

"Hello Uchiha-san," Naruto said politely, recognizing the Uchiha crest on her dress.

"I was friends with your mother you know." she began suddenly. "In fact we were teammates as genin and the best of friends later on," Naruto didn't react at all, choosing to focus on the waves of emotions rolling from the woman in front of him. He sensed adoration, guilt and regret along with fear coming from her and allowed her to continue.

"She named me your Godmother," she finally said without any fanfare. "I know that I have failed you and that I should have taken care you. I will understand if you want nothing to do with me from now, I—"

Naruto surprised her by wrapping his arms around her in a hug. He could sense that the regret and shame his godmother felt was genuine.

He was a very observant child, something which only the hokage was aware of. His harmless pranks had another function besides just making people laugh, they allowed him to see and hear things, things like how the Uchiha clan was under close scrutiny for the Kyubi attack and now knowing that he was a Jinchuriki, he could see why she couldn't interact with him before. Just like with Jiraiya, Naruto decided to forgive her and let bygones be bygone.

"It's okay, I forgive you," Naruto said softly.

The palpable relief he felt from her was worth it, thought Naruto as Mikoto returned the hug tightly.

"Thank you." she murmured. "Thank you so much," she said.

Naruto stepped back after a moment and said very quietly, "Could you tell me about my mother sometime?"

"Of course I will, Kushina was one of the bravest and the strongest kunoichi I have ever met, she was also one of the kindest, just like you," Mikoto said with a smile.

"She dreamt of being the hokage one day, and probably would have become one, if she really wanted to but after she met your father her priorities changed and she decided that she wanted to be a mother more than she wanted to be a Hokage. She was so excited when she first found out about you. I had never seen her more happy in her life. She loved you so so much Naruto. She wanted nothing more than to be with her family, to be with you." Naruto had tears in his eyes on hearing about his mother.

It felt as if a great weight was removed from his heart. Ever since he found out about the Kyubi he had been fearing that the dreams he had been having were something created by the Kyubi to haunt him. To know that it was true and not an illusion was a balm to him.

"She was also a really good chef you know, and she absolutely loved ramen," Mikoto told the boy.

Naruto had known that his mother liked Ramen from Jiraiya but he hadn't know that she was an awesome cook as well.

"Could you teach me how to cook?" Naruto asked her, partly because he wanted to be emulate his mother and learn more about her from Mikoto and partly because he needed to know how to cook if was to live on his own.

"Of course I will, I can even teach you some of your mother's recipes if you'd like," Mikoto said.

"I think I'll like that," Naruto told her, before his hunger from before made itself known again with a loud growl at the talk of food.

"I think that it's about time we ate, I feel hungry all of a sudden," Mikoto said with a smile and went ahead to gather everyone for the meal.

Naruto sat at the head of the table with the Hokage and Jiraiya on his side. He was ridiculously glad for the etiquette lessons Yugao had insisted on teaching him, otherwise he would have made a fool of himself for sure.

Dinner was a lively affair. Everyone was chatting with each other, occasionally pulling Naruto into the conversation which he joined eagerly. The food was delicious the company amiable and Naruto had all his favorite people by his side. It made him sad when the night inevitably came to an end and everyone except Jiraiya left for their homes, waving him goodbye and thanking him for the party as they went.

Mikoto promised to come back tomorrow to teach him cooking while the Hokage gave him a pat on the head and told him that he had few a more guests left to meet.

Naruto turned to Jiraiya for an explanation who simply pointed behind him. Naruto turned around to find five ANBU standing behind him and he let out a yelp of surprise. He was pretty sure they weren't there a moment ago.

"Sensei thought that it would be best for you to have some protection for some time. These guys volunteered for the job when they are not busy with missions," Jiraiya told him.

Naruto stepped forward with his usual cheer and Introduced himself, "Hi, my name's Naruto, though you probably know that. What are your names?" he asked them.

"I am Hatake Kakashi." the silver haired one introduced himself. "And these guys are Shiranui Genma, Namiashi Raidou, Uchiha Itachi and Tenzo," he said gesturing to each of them as he called out their names.

Genma and Raidou waved at him with friendly smiles while Itachi and Tenzo just nodded at him.

"It's nice to meet you guys." Naruto said with a wide smile. "Say, are you guys hungry?" he asked.

"Some food would be nice," Genma said, giving Raidou a shove towards the table. The others followed behind the two bickering shinobi.

Once they had eaten, Naruto began, "I was wondering… Is there some specific reason you guys volunteered for this job?"

At that, all eyes turned to Kakashi who looked nervous all of a sudden.

Naruto was beginning to see a sort of pattern by now and this time he didn't even bother listening to the man's explanation.

"Let me guess, you are going to say that you knew my mother, but due to certain circumstances were unable to meet me till now and now for some reason you decide to suddenly realize your mistake and want to make up for it, am I right?" he smirked as he saw the baffled expression on the masked man's face and knew he was correct.

"Don't worry I forgive you as long as you don't act like a jerk and disappear again," Naruto said with a shrug.

"Mah, you wound me Naruto, and here I had prepared a nice little list of all my excuses," the words were said jokingly, but he sensed genuine relief from the man.

"You know, I really did know your mother. She was like an annoying elder sister to me. I even brought a present to bribe you with." He nonchalantly unsealed a scroll and handed a picture book to Naruto.

Naruto opened it to find several pictures of his mother in it. He could see a young Kakashi in several of them, along with two other children Kakashi's age. He also spotted the Yondaime hokage in some photographs and remembered that the Yondaime had been his mother's student. They must have been friends, he suddenly realized.

He looked up towards the ninja with a grateful expression, who was watching him expectantly and gave him one of his best smiles, "thank you so much for this," Naruto said, trying to express his feelings through words, "It means a lot to me."

Kakashi nodded back, "I'm glad you liked it, was the least I could do," Kakashi said sincerely. The meeting had gone far better than he had hoped. It seemed as if Naruto wasn't one to dwell on past wrongs.

Naruto got up suddenly, "You guys wanna help me unwrap the presents?" he asked excitedly, breaking the somewhat somber mood.

Everyone eagerly accepted the offer and Naruto went towards the table where a smile pile of presents was waiting for him.

Shikaku had given him a shogi board which Naruto had no idea how to play, he resolved to ask Jiji later. Inoichi had given him a beautiful flower vase decorated with designs of sea waves with the Uzumaki clan crest drawn on it. Naruto decided that it will go in his bedroom. Choza had unsurprisingly given him coupons for all of the Akimichi owned restaurant, which was far more valuable than it sounded.

The others had given him standard stuff for a house but what caught Naruto's eyes was a single emerald green scarf with a note attached to it. It simply said _"love- from Kushina"_ and Naruto knew, that it was his mother's handwriting.

She had a beautiful flowy style of handwriting and Naruto absently traced his hand around the words over and over again.

He made sure to remember to thank Mikoto-san when he saw her tomorrow.

With all the presents unwrapped and feeling extremely tired. Naruto bid his guests goodnight before turning towards Jiraiya-ojisan who seemed to be waiting to say something.

"Hey kid." Jiraiya said finally. "You still wanna be hokage?"

"Of course I do! I'll be the best hokage ever, believe it!" Jiraiya nodded, satisfied with the answer.

"Then get ready, because from tomorrow your training to become a shinobi begins. And I should warn you, that it's not going to be easy." Jiraiya said seriously.

"Don't worry old man I can handle it," Naruto said with his usual confidence.

Jiraiya ruffled his hair, and after a moment of indecisiveness turned and begin to walk away towards the exit.

"You know." Naruto called out softly. "I have a spare room and a futon if you'd like to stay the night."

On hearing the desperate hope hidden behind the words Jiraiya stopped and turned to face his godson.

"I think I would like that," Jiraiya said, voice equally soft.

With the stars shining brightly over them the two made their way back towards the house, both feeling lighter than they had in years.

* * *

**Glossary: **

**Kawirimi - replacement technique**

**kotatsu - a traditonal low table with a heating system installed under it.**

**futon - traditional Japanese bed**

**AN: the next update will probably be a bit late as I have exams coming up, but now that the stage is set things are going to get heavy from now on. also this was my first attempt at a combat scene, hopefully I didn't suck too bad ****Ja ne!**


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